Farideh Bagne near the sharp curve next to her building on Cass Elizabeth Lake Road in Keego Harbor, pictured Tuesday March 5, 2013. Bagne says 4 accidents have happened on the curve in recent months. (Oakland Press Photo:Vaughn Gurganian)

When a driver went airborne in his Plymouth Breeze last August on Cass Lake Road and hit the second floor of the Mercury Medical Building in Keego Harbor, Farideh Bagne and her staff were all at home.

That is the good news.

The bad news was the intoxicated 21-year-old driver was seriously injured -- and the three-story medical building was badly damaged.

"The only reason the whole building didn't fall apart was because the driver hit a very large rock at the curve," said Bagne.

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Bagne blames many things connected with the accident, but her primary concern is the 90-degree curve in the road between Kessler and Stapleton, located a half-mile north of Orchard Lake Road.

"This curve is very dangerous," she said.

City officials say the curve may also be the cause of the loss of three light poles in two years and damage to a small "pocket" park located on the southbound side of the curve.

"The park has been struck several times," said Keego Harbor Police Chief Ken Hurst. "Drivers going too fast have knocked over the wall there."

In the latest of several incidents, a woman driving a black Ford sedan struck and knocked over a light pole at about 7:30 a.m. Friday, Hurst said.

A witness said the woman "stopped her car, got out and looked at the damage, got back in and left the scene," Hurst said.

Investigator Gregory Palmer used parts of the car that were left behind to determine that the woman's vehicle was a Ford Fusion, and Officer Robert Bonds located a vehicle with matching damage.

The 54-year-old Keego Harbor woman will be charged on Monday, the police chief said.

"She said she had to go to work, so she just left," Hurst said. "This is unacceptable behavior. It's just unacceptable."

Last August, another driver hit a pole in the curve. This past February, a driver going northbound ran into another pole on the curve.

"We had to turn off power in the area because wires were exposed," said Linda Voll, Keego Harbor's clerk and treasurer.

The bill for each new pole is $5,000.

"It's costly," Voll said. "It's the weather, and the drivers are going too fast when they hit that curve."

Keego has 106 decorative green light poles, said Voll, with 96 of them along Cass Lake Road.

The Road Commission for Oakland County reported, according to a 2011 volume study, about 14,500 drivers travel the road each day.

Bagne said her medical building, which opened in 2007, is cracked from the first floor to the top.

"It's going to be a major, major renovation," she said.

All the expected engineering and repair work will disrupt business at the medical billing company, she said.

Bagne believes the county needs to install a stoplight just before the curve.

"Then people would have to stop and they wouldn't go so fast," said Bagne.

Bagne requested the Road Commission for Oakland County study the curve.

Road Commission spokesman Craig Bryson said the angle of the curve was reduced when the road was reconstructed in 2001.

Road Commission engineers did review the road recently, at Bagne's request, and concluded that it has adequate signage and that crash history there isn't significant, said Bryson.

Bagne doesn't like the answer.

"I'm very dissatisfied," she said. "I hope they reconsider. It would save lives and property and (eliminate) the fear we have. If one spot has (so many) accidents, something is wrong."

Keego Mayor Sid Rubin said a traffic light in front of the Mercury Building "won't prevent drunk drivers from knocking down light poles. Two of the three light pole accidents in that location were alcohol-related. All were prosecuted."

He wonders if the Road Commission might consider lowering the speed limit along the entire road. The speed limit changes along Cass Lake Road from 25 mph by Roosevelt Elementary School when school begins and ends, to 35 in straight stretches. The curve is 30 mph, Rubin said.

"I'm in favor of a lower, consistent rate for the whole area," he said.

Craig Bryson said that speed limits are based on speed studies. "Michigan State Police won't sign off on anything other than what is shown via speed studies. We really don't have any ability to change that," said Bryson.

"Besides, that assumes that simply changing the sign would result in people actually changing their speeds. The speeds are based on the 85th percentile speed of drivers on the road before speed limits were posted. In other words, that's the speed people feel comfortable driving, and the speed they would likely drive regardless of what is posted."